USN may add conformal fuel tanks to F/A-18E/F fleet

[e6bflyer]

Not to be the bad guy here, but that should honestly be a valid question. I know exactly how much gas our airwing dumped each cycle. Combine that with the 7 day currency thing and its a fuckton of gas wasted. (And what real benefit does all that fuel buy you?) Compare the amount dumped by 1 airwing during 1 cycle to the amount an entire helo squadron burns flying for a quarter or even a year, and you start to wonder if the focus of previous cuts was a bit misguided....

Call it the cost of doing business around the boat. I would never begrudge those guys that gas that they are dumping, and this is coming from someone who flies an aircraft that has to shut down with a minimum of ten thousand pounds in the tanks.

 

[ea6bflyr]

I take it you've never heard of "Smart-Tanking."

Not all Air Wings do smart-tanking; in fact CSFTP had to highly recommend that the CVW try it so they know how to do it. It is discussed as part of C2X, but it comes at a risk that most CAG's don't want to take or don't like, especially as they are trying to get their blue water cert (COE) during C2X..

 

[e6bflyer]

http://e2s2.ndia.org/schedule/Documents/2012 Abstracts/Breakout Sessions/14383.pdf

Interesting, especially the graph that breaks down fuel usage by TMS. Also interesting that my community of 16 airplanes makes that big of a dent.

 

[scoolbubba]

http://e2s2.ndia.org/schedule/Documents/2012 Abstracts/Breakout Sessions/14383.pdf

Interesting, especially the graph that breaks down fuel usage by TMS. Also interesting that my community of 16 airplanes makes that big of a dent.

What I took away from that is if you bold something and make it red, it's automatically true.

 

[jmcquate]

OK .........I'll type it............The only time you have too much fuel is if your on fire.

 

[armada1651]

Bingo. Jets are cheaper than 4k of gas.

We train to operate in places where that's not an option. And when it's not actual blue water ops taking place, obviously there is a bingo state beneath that notional tank state and we will bingo if necessary. But the middle of the ocean, 600nm from any field, is not the place to find out your airwing's tanking procedures need work.

 

[helolumpy]

Heard a rumor from a TPS guy that folks are looking at the cost of bringing back the S-3 for tanking only.
Doubt it will happen, but thought the idea seemed interesting.

 

[MasterBates]

Hasn't that rumor come out every year since the Hoov got retired?

 

[Brett327]

Heard a rumor from a TPS guy that folks are looking at the cost of bringing back the S-3 for tanking only.
Doubt it will happen, but thought the idea seemed interesting.

Why would they do that? Current system seems to work well enough. Sounds like wishful thinking.

 

[MasterBates]

Let pull the KA-6 out of retirement.. Are there even any left in the boneyard? With the Prowler being phased out, it does probably free up a good chunk of spares.

 

[Fog]

Heard a rumor from a TPS guy that folks are looking at the cost of bringing back the S-3 for tanking only.
Doubt it will happen, but thought the idea seemed interesting.

What would an S-3 tanker's give amount be in lbs of gas? How does that compare w/ Buddy Stores or whatever we're doing now?

 

[Brett327]

What would an S-3 tanker's give amount be in lbs of gas? How does that compare w/ Buddy Stores or whatever we're doing now?

The more important question is... how much $$$ would it take to field, equip and maintain a fleet of S-3s? The answer is too much. Legacy airframes like that are O&M money pits. Someone did this cost/benefit calculus when they killed the S-3s in the first place. I doubt much has changed.

 

[MasterBates]

True, but have they looked into the fact that the trap life on some of the rhinos are getting eat up by it..

TTLR don't burn much but engine cycles/times, but as airframes start getting trapped out, with the IOC for the F-35 nowhere on the horizon..

Example.. It may cost me more to keep my POS 99 F-250 running than my 2013 4Runner.. But if the $$$ dumped into the F-250 saves me from either running the 4Runner into the ground pulling all sorts of heavy trailers, or from buying a new truck..

 

[Recovering LSO]

^ you've oversimplified the case.

There are MANY inherent costs with "parking" an airplane. See NAS Whidbey/CVWP and the idea of "preservation"....

 

[helolumpy]

The TPS pilot said something about SuperHornets getting wing cracks from the buddy stores. Don't know if its true or not, just conveying what was told to me.